Costin feeds off painful memories to walk the walk

AFTER covering 50 kilometres in 4:15.16, it took Jamie Costin almost 90 minutes to cross the 200 or so yards from the Olympic finishing line to the interview zone.

Though the foreign media masses had evaporated, a sizeable Irish delegation, led by athletics team manager Patsy McGonagle, remained in place by the barriers waiting to congratulate the Waterford man after he was treated for dehydration by Dr Bill Cuddihy.

Few 44th-placed athletes receive such support. Then few athletes have Jamie Costin’s back story.

This time four years ago he lay in a hospital bed wondering if he would ever walk again after a car accident in Athens left him with a compressed fracture to his back.

The months of rehab were as agonising, living life first inside the cocoon of a body cast before learning to painfully put one foot in front of the other all over again.

If he had been an American, Costin’s story would surely be set for the celluloid treatment. And after yesterday’s finish to a gruelling test of character and strength, maybe someday his journey will make the big screen.

“It has been a fairly long journey to get back to here. The road to China took a few turns along the way,” he said matter-of-factly.

“No mattered what happened I was going to finish. There was no two ways about that. There are a lot of my friends and family who have come over to see me race. You don’t allow something to happen where you don’t finish.

“Unfortunately I didn’t manage to walk as well as I could or should have.

“But I finished it and that is the positive that has to be taken out of it.

“These Olympics come around every four years and it is eight years since I competed at one. I am happy to finish but not with the results.”

But he was the only one being critical, the only one who failed to see the miracle that he has achieved, not just in the heat and humidity of Beijing but over the last four years.

“I had a shocking day. It did not go as well as I hoped. Unfortunately that is what happens. The favourite finished back around 12th and Alex Schwazer won the gold. That is what happens in sport and it has been happening a lot this week with some people performing really well and others not performing as well as people expect them to perform. For me, I finished 44th, that is not good enough.”

For the final few kilometres, Costin was on autopilot, fighting the pain racing through every sinew, thinking about those days and nights lying motionless looking at nothing but the ceiling.

They were his darkest hours, and yesterday he fed off the memories, to make this fight back worthwhile

“You are just trying to get through every step,” he said of the final two kilometres.

“It is tough at that stage, especially when your body is not working properly. It is very tough to make sure you kept yourself going. I was in a tough situation and was literally taking it step by step all the way to the finish. That was all I could do.”

Ireland’s other competitor in the final, Colin Griffin from Ballinamore in Leitrim was disqualified for loss of contact and a bent knee (twice).

Meanwhile Alex Schwazer (Italy) produced an Olympic record when beating Australia’s Jared Tallent while Denis Nizhegorodov of Russia, the silver medalist from the Athens Games and world record holder, took bronze in the 31-mile race.

Schwazer finished in three hours 37.09 minutes, slicing 1 minute, 20 seconds, off the 20-year-old mark. Tallent, who already won a bronze in the 20 km walk earlier this week, finished 2.18 minutes behind the winner.